The 2013 Alabama baseball season came to an end on Sunday afternoon with a heartbreaking 9-8 loss to the 26th-ranked and third seeded Troy Trojans in an elimination game of the Tallahassee Regional at Mike Martin Field. Despite outhitting Troy 15-8 on the day, the Tide was unable to close out the game as the Trojans scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with the win.
“It was a tough one and a tough way to lose. I thought our guys competed really hard,” head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “This has been a season that we’ve been on the edge like that late in games, but we’ve been able to finish most of them off, and today we weren’t. We allowed Troy too many opportunities, and they did a good job to get some big hits there in the ninth inning. It doesn’t take away that our guys competed extremely hard, and I think our young guys learned a lot from the tournament. We’ve just got to regroup and get better for next year.”
With the Tide leading 8-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Alabama (35-28) turned the ball over to closer Ray Castillo. Castillo (2-3) blew his third save of the season, allowing four runs on three walks, two hit batters and two hits in a third of an inning. The game-winning run came when Castillo walked Brandon Brown with bases loaded to push across Josh McDorman to end the game.
With the win, Troy will took on Florida State Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET. Jeremy McGowan threw the final 1.1 innings for the Trojans (42-19) to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Alabama collected 15 hits as, eight of the nine starters had at least one hit in the game. Chance Vincent had a career-high three hits, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Hitting lead off for the first time in his career, Mikey White was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Seven seniors played their final games for the Tide, as Brett Booth and Andrew Miller finished their careers with two hits in the game. Booth was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored, and Miller was 2-for-4 and scored twice. Kyle Overstreet was 2-for-5, and Austen Smith was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Although the Trojans had eight hits in the game, they had 12 more base runners thanks to eight walks, three hit batters and an error by the Tide. McDorman was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, and Logan Pierce was 2-for-4 with two runs scored for Troy. Kyle Brown doubled in his only at-bat, as he drove in two in the four-run ninth inning. Matthew Howard and Brandon Brown also had two RBIs in the game.
